River Otters Score on All Five Shootout Breakaways; Defeat Muskegon 3-2

December 28, 2004 - International Hockey League 2 (IHL 2)
Missouri River Otters News Release


The River Otters converted all five shootout attempts and skated out of Muskegon with a 3-2 victory against the defending Colonial Cup Champions.

The only goal in the opening period came on a rather innocent looking play. Fury defenseman Nolan Brown picked up the puck along the boards and flung the puck at the River Otters net. The shot caught Missouri goalie Jason Tapp by surprise, and snuck past him to give Muskegon the lead.

The River Otters dominated the second period and took the lead away from the Fury. The first goal came on a great play by Lars Pettersen. The crafty center sent a perfect pass from the corner to a streaking Mat Snesrud, who fired a wrist shot off Fury goaltender Clayton Pool's glove and into the net. On the second goal, Pettersen gave Cole Bassett a pass in the corner, and Bassett found a wide-open Josh Legge at the right point. Legge skated to the top of the right face-off circle and rifled a wicked wrister that beat Pool to give the Otters a 2-1 lead.

Muskegon got a fluky goal to tie the game in the third period. Jordan Flodell dumped in a puck from just outside the Otters blue-line, and it took a weird bounce off the boards and went into the net, which had been vacated by Tapp as he expected the puck behind the cage.

In the shootout, Bassett, Pettersen, Barrie Moore, Riku Varjamo, and Charlie Blyth all scored for the River Otters, and Jason Tapp stoned B.J. Gaustad on the Fury fifth attempt to give his team the win. Tapp made 26 saves for his tenth victory of the season.

The Otters host the Quad City Mallards Friday, December 31 at the Family Arena. The puck drops at 6:05, and all the action can be heard on KSLQ 104.5 and the B2 Webcast at www.riverotters.com.



International Hockey League 2 Stories from December 28, 2004


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